The Flying Torpedo | |
---|---|
Directed by | John B. O'Brien Christy Cabanne |
Written by | Robert M. Baker John Emerson D. W. Griffith (uncredited) |
Produced by | D. W. Griffith |
Starring | John Emerson Bessie Love |
Cinematography | George W. Hill |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Triangle Film Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 50 minutes; 5 reels |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The Flying Torpedo is a 1916 American silent drama directed by John B. O'Brien and Christy Cabanne. It was produced by the Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by the Triangle Film Corporation. The film was written by John Emerson (who also stars), Robert M. Baker and D. W. Griffith (who was not credited). The film is now considered lost. [1] [2]
In 1921, novelist Winthrop Clavering (Emerson), known as "The World's Greatest Detective", befriends young inventor Bartholomew Thompson (Spottiswoode Aitken), who has just invented a radio controlled flying bomb (weaponry that would come to be known as guided missiles). [1] [3] Bartholomew is soon murdered by spies, described as "yellow men from the East" in the film, who steal his new invention. Clavering and his Swedish maid Hulda (Bessie Love) set out to find the spies who have been invading the United States. Clavering and Hulda catch up with spies just as they invade California and force them out of the country with the same device they stole. [4]
Erich von Stroheim played a small supporting role as an evil German officer.
John Emerson had previously portrayed the role of Winthrop Clavering in the play The Conspiracy, from December 1912 to March 1914. [5]
The film was produced by D. W. Griffith's film production company Fine Arts and was distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. Griffith also helped to write the film's scenario with lead John Emerson and Robert Baker. [2] Griffith was also responsible for casting a teenage Bessie Love in the film whom he discovered and cast in several of his films in 1915. [6] Filming began in July 1915 under the working title The Scarlet Band. [7] Christy Cabanne directed the battle sequences. [3]
Intolerance is a 1916 epic silent film directed by D. W. Griffith. Subtitles include Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages and A Sun-Play of the Ages.
John Herbert Quick was an American writer and politician.
The Love of Sunya is an American silent drama film made in 1927. It was directed by Albert Parker, and was based on the play The Eyes of Youth by Max Marcin and Charles Guernon. Produced by and starring Gloria Swanson, it also stars John Boles and Pauline Garon. A copy of The Love of Sunya survives in the Paul Killiam collection.
Frank Spottiswoode Aitken was a Scottish-American actor of the silent era. He played Dr. Cameron in D. W. Griffith's epic drama The Birth of a Nation.
Home, Sweet Home (1914) is an American silent biographical drama directed by D. W. Griffith. It stars Earle Foxe, Henry Walthall and Dorothy Gish.
John Emerson was an American stage actor, playwright, producer, and director of silent films. Emerson was married to Anita Loos from June 15, 1919, until his death, and prior to that the couple had worked together as a writing team for motion pictures. They would continue to be credited jointly, even as Loos pursued independent projects.
The Battle is a 1911 American war film directed by D. W. Griffith. The film was set during the American Civil War. It was shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where many early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based at the beginning of the 20th century. Prints of the film survive in several film archives around the world including the Museum of Modern Art, UCLA Film and Television Archive, George Eastman House and the Filmoteca Española.
Macbeth is a silent, black-and-white 1916 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Macbeth. It was directed by John Emerson, assisted by Erich von Stroheim, and produced by D. W. Griffith, with cinematography by Victor Fleming. The film starred Herbert Beerbohm Tree and Constance Collier, both famous from the stage and for playing Shakespearean parts. Although released during the first decade of feature filmmaking, it was already the seventh version of Macbeth to be produced, one of eight during the silent film era. It is considered to be a lost film.
Blind Husbands is a 1919 American drama film written and directed by Erich von Stroheim. The film is an adaptation of the story The Pinnacle by Stroheim.
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish is a 1916 American short silent comedy film starring Douglas Fairbanks, Bessie Love, and Alma Rubens. Directed by John Emerson, the story was written by Tod Browning with intertitles by Anita Loos.
The Americano is a 1916 American silent adventure / romantic comedy film directed by John Emerson and stars Douglas Fairbanks in his last production for Triangle Film Corporation. Based on the novel Blaze Derringer, by Eugene P. Lyle, Jr., the scenario was written by John Emerson and Anita Loos who also wrote the film's intertitles. The film was re-released by S.A. Lynch Enterprises on August 21, 1923. Three 16mm prints and one 8mm print of the film still exists. Set in a fictional South American country of Paragonia, it has been described as one of a group of films that supported United States imperialism by providing support to the idea of manifest destiny.
Acquitted is a 1916 American silent mystery film produced by the Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. Paul Powell directed a screenplay by Roy Somerville based on a 1907 short story by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Tod Browning served as an uncredited writer.
Cheerful Givers is a 1917 American silent comedy-drama film produced by the Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. The film stars Bessie Love and Kenneth Harlan.
Double Trouble is a 1915 American silent romantic comedy film written and directed by Christy Cabanne, produced by D.W. Griffith, and starring Douglas Fairbanks in one of his earliest motion pictures. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Herbert Quick. The plot, a variant on the theme of Jekyll and Hyde, revolves around a very shy, "effeminate" banker who acquires a second, rakish and flirtatious personality after receiving a blow on the head. The film was a popular and critical success.
A Sister of Six is a 1916 American silent Western film produced by the Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. The film was directed by brothers Chester M. and Sidney Franklin. This was Bessie Love's first starring role.
Conspiracy is a 1930 American pre-Code mystery melodrama film produced and distributed by RKO Pictures and directed by Christy Cabanne. It is the second adaptation of the play The Conspiracy by Robert B. Baker and John Emerson and stars Bessie Love and Ned Sparks.
Beyond is a 1921 American drama silent film based on the play The Lifted Veil by Henry Arthur Jones. The film was directed by William Desmond Taylor and produced by Jesse L. Lasky. It stars Ethel Clayton, Charles Meredith and Earl Schenck. The feature was distributed by Paramount Pictures and was set in part in New Zealand.
The Failure is a 1915 silent American drama film, directed by Christy Cabanne. It stars John Emerson, Wahnetta Hanson, and A. D. Sears, and was released on May 27, 1915.
Fine Arts Film Company produced dozens of movies during the silent film era in the United States. It was one of the film production studios in Triangle Film Corporation, each run by one of the parent company's vice-presidents: D. W. Griffith, Thomas H. Ince, and Mack Sennett. Fine Arts was Griffith's studio and was located on Sunset Boulevard. It was often billed as Triangle Fine Arts.